Editor’s Introduction

James Harrington (1611-1677) was a leading English Republican political theorist of the 17th century. His views on voting by ballot and the rotation of office were considered radical in his day. Harrington’s work was influential in the 18th century as Jefferson and the Founding Fathers found in his writings on an independent gentry and the right to bear arms a useful antidote to the claims of the British monarchy.

Harrington’s Oceana is a strange mixture of analysis of contemporary England and predictions of what England might be like if it introduced the reforms advocated by him. The latter in turn is a mixture of analysis written in prose and “speeches” by ficticious characters from the new Oceana explaining how their society functioned. Whatever its structure, it is a vision of a liberal, democratic, and constitutional society created at a time when England was in the throws of a revolution which had overturned a rigid and repressive monarchy which shared its rule with a rivalrous Parliament dominated by landed aristocrats.

In contrast, Harrington envisaged a republic which had decentralised decision making, where elaborately structured elections based on “the Venetian ballot” took place, where there were frequent elections with considerable “rotation” of office holders, and where limits on the size of land ownership (the Agrarian law) prevented the landed aristocracy from dominating politics. These constitutional structures meant that the society of Oceana was dominated by a small-holding yeomanry who were independent of the influence of other groups in society and who were willing and able to provide the armed force required to protect their society. Thus, there was no need for a standing army paid for out of taxes and which could be used by the monarch to intimidate the citizens of Oceana.

Furthermore, Oceana was a liberal democracy since the fundamental law was established to protect individual property and guarantee each individual’s right to enjoy that property in whatever way they saw fit. Also unusual for the mid-17th century was the protection of religious liberty and right of individuals to voluntarily practice the religion of their choice.

Oceana was much admired by the late 17th and 18th century Commonwealthman and was a text which was reprinted and circulated in the North American colonies by Thomas Hollis.

“An equal commonwealth is such a one as is equal both in the balance or foundation, and in the superstructure; that is to say, in her Agrarian law, and in her rotation. An equal Agrarian is a perpetual law establishing and preserving the balance of dominion by such a distribution, that no one man or number of men, within the compass of the few of aristocracy, can com to overpower the whole people by their possessions in lands... Equal rotation is equal vicissitude in government, or succession to magistracy confer’d for such convenient terms, enjoying equal vacations, as take in the whole body by parts, succeding others, thro the free election or suffrage of the people.”

Extracts from “The Commonwealth of Oceana” (1656)[1]

THE INTRODUCTION, OR ORDER OF THE WORK.

[Pliny’s description of Oceana.] OCEANA is saluted by the Panegyrist after this manner; O the most blest and fortunat of all countrys, OCEANA! how deservedly has Nature with the bountys of heaven and earth indu’d thee? thy ever-fruitful womb not clos’d with ice, nor dissolv’d by the raging star; where Ceres and Bacchus are perpetual twins. Thy woods are not the harbor of devouring beasts, nor thy continual verdure the ambush of serpents, but the food of innumerable herds and flocks presenting thee their shepherdess with distended dugs, or golden fleeces. The wings of thy night involve thee not in the horror of darkness, but have still som white feather; and thy day is (that for which we esteem life) the longest. But this extasy of Pliny (as is observ’d by Bertius) seems to allude as well to Marpesia and Panopea, now provinces of this commonwealth, as to Oceana it self.

[The nature of the People.] To speak of the people in each of these countrys, this of Oceana for so soft a one, is the most martial in the whole world. Let states that aim at greatness (says Verulamius) take heed how their nobility and gentlemen multiply too fast, for that makes the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain driven out of heart, and in effect but a gentleman’s laborer; just as you may see in coppice woods, if you leave the staddels too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, but shrubs and bushes: so in countrys, if the gentlemen be too many, the commons will be base; and you will bring it to that at last, that not the hundredth poll will be fit for a helmet, specially as to the infantry, which is the nerve of an army, and so there will be great population and little strength. This of which I speak has bin no where better seen than by comparing of Oceana and France, whereof Oceana, tho far less in territory and population, has bin nevertheless an overmatch, in regard the middle people of Oceana make good soldiers, which the peasants in France do not. In which words Verulamius (as Machiavel has don before him) harps much upon a string which he has not perfectly tun’d, and that is the balance of dominion or property: as it follows more plainly in his praise of the profound and admirable device of Panurgus king of Oceana, in making farms and houses of husbandry of a standard; that is, maintain’d with such a proportion of land to them, as may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty, and no servil condition, and to keep the plow in the hand of the owners, and not mere hirelings. And thus indeed (says he) you shall attain to Virgil’s character which he gives of antient Italy.

“But the tillage bringing up a good soldiery, brings up a good commonwealth; which the author in the praise of Panurgus did not mind, nor Panurgus in deserving that praise: for where the owner of the plow coms to have the sword too, he will use it in defence of his own; whence it has happen’d that the people of Oceana in proportion to their property have bin always free.

But the tillage bringing up a good soldiery, brings up a good commonwealth; which the author in the praise of Panurgus did not mind, nor Panurgus in deserving that praise: for where the owner of the plow coms to have the sword too, he will use it in defence of his own; whence it has happen’d that the people of Oceana in proportion to their property have bin always free. And the genius of this nation has ever had som resemblance with that of antient Italy, which was wholly addicted to commonwealths, and where Rome came to make the greatest account of her rustic tribes, and to call her consuls from the plow; for in the way of parlaments, which was the government of this realm, men of country-lives have bin still intrusted with the greatest affairs, and the people have constantly had an aversion to the ways of the court. Ambition loving to be gay, and to fawn, has bin a gallantry look’d upon as having somthing in it of the livery; and husbandry, or the country way of life, tho of a grosser spinning, as the best stuf of a commonwealth, according to Aristotle, such a one being the most obstinat assertress of her liberty, and the least subject to innovation or turbulency. Wherfore till the foundations (as will be hereafter shew’d) were remov’d, this people was observ’d to be the least subject to shakings and turbulency of any: wheras commonwealths, upon which the city life has had the stronger influence, as Athens, have seldom or never bin quiet; but at the best are found to have injur’d their own business by overdoing it. Whence the Urban tribes of Rome, consisting of the Turba forensis, and Libertins that had receiv’d their freedom by manumission, were of no reputation in comparison of the rustics. It is true, that with Venice it may seem to be otherwise, in regard the gentlemen (for so are all such call’d as have a right to that government) are wholly addicted to the city life: but then the Turba forensis, the secretarys, Cittadini, with the rest of the populace, are wholly excluded. Otherwise a commonwealth, consisting but of one city, would doubtless be stormy, in regard that ambition would be every man’s trade: but where it consists of a country, the plow in the hands of the owner finds him a better calling, and produces the most innocent and steddy genius of a commonwealth, such as is that of Oceana ...

OCEANA: THE PRELIMINARYS, SHEWING THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

... But if som of these commonwealths, as being less perfect in their polity than others, have bin more seditious, it is not more an argument of the infirmity of this or that commonwealth in particular, than of the excellency of that kind of polity in general; which if they, that have not altogether reach’d, have nevertheless had greater prosperity, what would befal them that should reach?

In answer to which question let me invite Leviathan, who of all other governments gives the advantage to monarchy for perfection, to a better disquisition of it by these three assertions.

The first, That the perfection of government lys upon such a libration in the frame of it, that no man or men in or under it can have the interest; or having the interest, can have the power to disturb it with sedition.

The second, That monarchy, reaching the perfection of the kind, reaches not to the perfection of government; but must have som dangerous flaw in it.

The third, That popular government, reaching the perfection of the kind, reaches the perfection of government, and has no flaw in it.

“That popular government, reaching the perfection of the kind, reaches the perfection of government, and has no flaw in it.”

The first assertion requires no proof.

For the proof of the second; monarchy, as has bin shewn, is of two kinds, the one by arms, the other by a nobility, and there is no other kind in art or nature: for if there have been antiently som governments call’d kingdoms, as one of the Goths in Spain, and another of the Vandals in Africa, where the king rul’d without a nobility, and by a council of the people only; it is expresly said by the authors that mention them, that the kings were but the captains, and that the people not only gave them laws, but depos’d them as often as they pleas’d. Nor is it possible in reason that it should be otherwise in like cases; wherfore these were either no monarchys, or had greater flaws in them than any other.

But for a monarchy by arms, as that of the Turc (which of all models that ever were, coms up to the perfection of the kind) it is not in the wit or power of man to cure it of this dangerous flaw, That the Janizarys have frequent interest and perpetual power to raise sedition, and to tear the magistrat, even the prince himself, in pieces. Therfore the monarchy of Turky is no perfect government.

And for a monarchy by nobility, as of late in Oceana (which of all other models before the declination of it came up to the perfection in that kind) it was not in the power or wit of man to cure it of that dangerous flaw, That the nobility had frequent interest and perpetual power by their retainers and tenants to raise sedition; and (wheras the Janizarys occasion this kind of calamity no sooner than they make an end of it) to levy a lasting war, to the vast effusion of blood, and that even upon occasions wherin the people, but for their dependence upon their lords, had no concernment, as in the feud of the Red and White. The like has bin frequent in Spain, France, Germany, and other monarchys of this kind; wherfore monarchy by a nobility is no perfect government.

For the proof of the third assertion; Leviathan yields it to me, that there is no other commonwealth but monarchical or popular: wherfore if no monarchy be a perfect government, then either there is no perfect government, or it must be popular; for which kind of constitution I have something more to say, than Leviathan has said or ever will be able to say for monarchy. As,

First, That it is the government that was never conquer’d by any monarch, from the beginning of the world to this day: for if the commonwealths of Greece came under the yoke of the kings of Macedon, they were first broken by themselves.

Secondly, That it is the government that has frequently led mighty monarchs in triumph.

Thirdly, That it is the government, which, if it has bin seditious, it has not bin so from any imperfection in the kind, but in the particular constitution; which, wherever the like has happen’d, must have bin inequal.

Fourthly, That it is the government, which, if it has bin any thing near equal, was never seditious; or let him shew me what sedition has happen’d in Lacedemon or Venice.

Fifthly, That it is the government, which, attaining to perfect equality, has such a libration in the frame of it, that no man living can shew which way any man or men, in or under it, can contract any such interest or power as should be able to disturb the commonwealth with sedition; wherfore an equal commonwealth is that only which is without flaw, and contains in it the full perfection of government. But to return.

By what has been shewn in reason and experience it may appear, that tho commonwealths in general be governments of the senat proposing, the people resolving, and the magistracy executing; yet som are not so good at these orders as others, thro some impediment or defect in the frame, balance, or capacity of them, according to which they are of divers kinds.

[Division of commonwealths.] The first division of them is into such as are single, as Israel, Athens, Lacedemon, &c. and such as are by leagues, as those of the Acheans, Etolians, Lycians, Switz, and Hollanders.

The second (being Machiavel’s) is into such as are for preservation, as Lacedemon and Venice, and such as are for increase, as Athens and Rome; in which I can see no more than that the former takes in no more citizens than are necessary for defence, and the latter so many as are capable of increase.

The third division (unseen hitherto) is into equal and inequal, and this is the main point, especially as to domestic peace and tranquillity; for to make a commonwealth inequal, is to divide it into partys, which sets them at perpetual variance, the one party endeavouring to preserve their eminence and inequality, and the other to attain to equality: whence the people of Rome deriv’d their perpetual strife with the nobility and senat. But in an equal commonwealth there can be no more strife than there can be overbalance in equal weights; wherfore the commonwealth of Venice, being that which of all others is the most equal in the constitution, is that wherein there never happen’d any strife between the senat and the people.

An equal commonwealth is such a one as is equal both in the balance or foundation, and in the superstructure; that is to say, in her Agrarian law, and in her rotation.

“An equal commonwealth is such a one as is equal both in the balance or foundation, and in the superstructure; that is to say, in her Agrarian law, and in her rotation. An equal Agrarian is a perpetual law establishing and preserving the balance of dominion by such a distribution, that no one man or number of men, within the compass of the few of aristocracy, can com to overpower the whole people by their possessions in lands.”

[Equal Agrarian.] An equal Agrarian is a perpetual law establishing and preserving the balance of dominion by such a distribution, that no one man or number of men, within the compass of the few of aristocracy, can com to overpower the whole people by their possessions in lands.

As the Agrarian answers to the foundation, so dos rotation to the superstructures.

[Rotation.] Equal rotation is equal vicissitude in government, or succession to magistracy confer’d for such convenient terms, enjoying equal vacations, as take in the whole body by parts, succeding others, thro the free election or suffrage of the people.

“Equal rotation is equal vicissitude in government, or succession to magistracy confer’d for such convenient terms, enjoying equal vacations, as take in the whole body by parts, succeding others, thro the free election or suffrage of the people.”

[Prolongation of magistracy.] The contrary wherunto is prolongation of magistracy, which, trashing the wheel of rotation, destroys the life or natural motion of a commonwealth.

[Ballot.] The election or suffrage of the people is most free, where it is made or given in such a manner, that it can neither oblige nor disoblige another; nor thro fear of an enemy, or bashfulness towards a friend, impair a man’s liberty. ...

“That an army should in any other case be long supported by a mere tax, is a mere phansy as void of all reason and experience, as if a man should think to maintain such a one by robbing of orchards: for a mere tax is but pulling of plumtrees, the roots wherof are in others mens grounds, who suffering perpetual violence, com to hate the author of it”

It is true, that the provincial balance being in nature quite contrary to the national, you are no way to plant a provincial army upon dominion. But then you must have a native territory in strength, situation, or government, able to overbalance the foren, or you can never hold it. That an army should in any other case be long supported by a mere tax, is a mere phansy as void of all reason and experience, as if a man should think to maintain such a one by robbing of orchards: for a mere tax is but pulling of plumtrees, the roots wherof are in others mens grounds, who suffering perpetual violence, com to hate the author of it: and it is a maxim, that no prince that is hated by his people can be safe. Arms planted upon dominion extirpat enemys, and make friends: but maintain’d by a mere tax, have enemys that have roots, and friends that have none.

To conclude, Oceana, or any other nation of no greater extent, must have a competent nobility, or is altogether incapable of monarchy: for where there is equality of estates, there must be equality of power: and where there is equality of power, there can be no monarchy.

[The generation of the commonwealth.] To com then to the generation of the commonwealth; it has bin shewn how thro the ways and means us’d by Panurgus to abase the nobility, and so to mend that flaw which we have asserted to be incurable in this kind of constitution, he suffer’d the balance to fall into the power of the people, and so broke the government: but the balance being in the people, the commonwealth (tho they do not see it) is already in the nature of them. There wants nothing else but time (which is slow and dangerous) or art (which would be more quick and secure) for the bringing those native arms (wherwithal they are found already) to resist they know not how every thing that opposes them, to such maturity as may fix them upon their own strength and bottom.

[What prudence is.] But wheras this art is prudence; and that part of prudence which regards the present work, is nothing else but the skill of raising such superstructures of government, as are natural to the known foundations: they never mind the foundation, but thro certain animosities (wherwith by striving one against another they are infected) or thro freaks, by which, not regarding the course of things, nor how they conduce to their purpose, they are given to building in the air, com to be divided and subdivided into endless partys and factions, both civil and ecclesiastical: which briefly to open, I shall first speak of the people in general, and then of their divisions.

A People (says Machiavel) that is corrupt, is not capable of a commonwealth. But in shewing what a corrupt people is, he has either involv’d himself, or me; nor can I otherwise com out of the labyrinth, than by saying, the balance altering a people, as to the foregoing government, must of necessity be corrupt: but corruption in this sense signifys no more than that the corruption of one government (as in natural bodys) is the generation of another. Wherfore if the balance alters from monarchy, the corruption of the people in this case is that which makes them capable of a commonwealth. But wheras I am not ignorant, that the corruption which he means is in manners, this also is from the balance. For the balance leading from monarchical into popular, abates the luxury of the nobility, and, inriching the people, brings the government from a more privat to a more public interest; which coming nearer, as has bin shewn, to justice and right reason, the people upon a like alteration is so far from such a corruption of manners, as should render them incapable of a commonwealth, that of necessity they must therby contract such a reformation of manners as will bear no other kind of government. On the other side, where the balance changes from popular to oligarchical or monarchical, the public interest, with the reason and justice included in the same, becoms more privat; luxury is introduc’d in the room of temperance, and servitude in that of freedom; which causes such a corruption of manners both in the nobility and people, as, by the example of Rome in the time of the Triumvirs, is more at large discover’d by the author to have bin altogether incapable of a commonwealth.

But the balance of Oceana changing quite contrary to that of Rome, the manners of the people were not therby corrupted, but on the contrary adapted to a commonwealth. For differences of opinion in a people not rightly inform’d of their balance, or a division into partys (while there is not any common ligament of power sufficient to reconcile or hold them) is no sufficient proof of corruption. Nevertheless, seeing this must needs be matter of scandal and danger, it will not be amiss, in shewing what were the partys, to shew what were their errors.

The partys into which this nation was divided, were temporal, or spiritual: and the temporal partys were especially two, the one royalists, the other republicans: each of which asserted their different causes, either out of prudence or ignorance, out of interest or conscience.

For prudence, either that of the antients is inferior to the modern (which we have hitherto bin setting face to face, that any one may judg) or that of the royalist must be inferior to that of the commonwealthsman. And for interest, taking the commonwealthsman to have really intended the public (for otherwise he is a hypocrit and the worst of men) that of the royalist must of necessity have bin more privat. Wherfore the whole dispute will com upon matter of conscience: and this, whether it be urg’d by the right of kings, the obligation of former laws, or of the oath of allegiance, is absolv’d by the balance.

[The royalist.] For if the right of kings were as immediatly deriv’d from the breath of God as the life of man, yet this excludes not death and dissolution. But, that the dissolution of the late monarchy was as natural as the death of a man, has bin already shewn. Wherfore it remains with the royalists to discover by what reason or experience it is possible for a monarchy to stand upon a popular balance; or, the balance being popular, as well the oath of allegiance, as all other monarchical laws, imply an impossibility, and are therfore void. ...

OCEANA: THE MODEL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF OCEANA.

... These three places (Israel, Lacedemon, and Rome) being premis’d, as such upon which there will be frequent reflection, I com to the narrative, divided into two parts, the first containing the institution, the second the constitution of the commonwealth; in each wherof I shall distinguish the orders, as those which contain the whole model, from the rest of the discourse, which tends only to the explanation or proof of them.

[Institution of the commonwealth.] In the institution or building of a commonwealth, the first work (as that of builders) can be no other than fitting and distributing the materials.

[Divisions of the people.] The materials of a commonwealth are the people; and the people of Oceana were distributed by casting them into certain divisions, regarding their quality, their age, their wealth, and the places of their residence or habitation, which was don by the insuing orders.

“The materials of a commonwealth are the people; and the people of Oceana were distributed by casting them into certain divisions, regarding their quality, their age, their wealth, and the places of their residence or habitation, which was don by the insuing orders.”

[1 Order. Into freemen and servants.] The first ORDER distributes the people into freemen or citizens, and servants, while such; for if they attain to liberty, that is, to live of themselves, they are freemen or citizens.

This order needs no proof, in regard of the nature of servitude, which is inconsistent with freedom, or participation of government in a commonwealth.

[2 Order. Into youth and elders.] The second ORDER distributes citizens into youth and elders (such as are from 18 years of age to 30, being accounted youth; and such as are of 30 and upwards, elders) and establishes that the youth shall be the marching armys, and the elders the standing garisons of this nation.

A commonwealth whose arms are in the hands of her servants, had need be situated (as is elegantly said of Venice by Contarini) out of the reach of their clutches; witness the danger run by that of Carthage in the rebellion of Spendius and Matho. But tho a city (if one swallow makes a summer) may thus chance to be safe, yet shall it never be great; for it Carthage or Venice acquir’d any fame in their arms, it is known to have happen’d thro the mere virtue of their captains, and not of their orders: wherefore Israel, Lacedemon, and Rome intail’d their arms upon the prime of their citizens, divided (at least in Lacedemon and Rome) into youth and elders; the youth for the field, and the elders for defence of the territory.

[3 Order. Into horse and foot.] The third ORDER distributes the citizens into horse and foot by the cense or valuation of their estates; they who have above one hundred pounds a year in lands, goods, or monys, being oblig’d to be of the horse; and they who have under that sum, to be of the foot. But if a man has prodigally wasted and spent his patrimony, he is neither capable of magistracy, office, or suffrage in the commonwealth.

Citizens are not only to defend the commonwealth, but according to their abilitys, as the Romans under Servius Tullus (regard had to their estates) were som inrol’d in the horse centurys, and others of the foot, with arms injoin’d accordingly; nor could it be otherwise in the rest of the commonwealths, tho out of historical remains, that are so much darker, it be not so clearly probable. And the necessary prerogative to be given by a commonwealth to estates, is in som measure in the nature of industry, and the use of it to the public. The Roman people, says Julius Exuperantius, were divided into classes, and tax’d according to the value of their estates. All that were worth the sums appointed were imploy’d in the wars; for they most eagerly contend for the victory, who fight for liberty in defence of their country and possessions. But the poorer sort were pol’d only for their heads (which was all they had) and kept in garison at home in time of war: for these might betray the armys for bread, by reason of their poverty; which is the reason that Marius,to whom the care of the government ought not to have bin committed, was the first that led ’em into the field; and his success was accordingly. There is a mean in things; as exorbitant riches overthrow the balance of a commonwealth, so extreme poverty cannot hold it, nor is by any means to be trusted with it. The clause in the order concerning the prodigal is Athenian, and a very laudable one; for he that could not live upon his patrimony, if he coms to touch the public mony, makes a commonwealth bankrupt.

[4 Order. Into parishes, hundreds, and tribes.] The fourth ORDER distributes the people according to the places of their habitation, into parishes, hundreds, and tribes.

For except the people be methodically distributed, they cannot be methodically collected; but the being of a commonwealth consists in the methodical collection of the people: wherfore you have the Israelitish divisions into rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fiftys, and of tens; and of the whole commonwealth into tribes: the Laconic into obas, moras, and tribes; the Roman into tribes, centurys, and classes; and somthing there must of necessity be in every government of the like nature; as that in the late monarchy, by countys. But this being the only institution in Oceana (except that of the agrarian) which requir’d any charge or included any difficulty, engages me to a more particular description of the manner how it was perform’d, as follows. ...

The business of the muster being thus happily finish’d, Hermes de Caduceo, lord orator of the tribe of Nubia, being now put into her first rapture, caus’d one of the censors pulpits to be planted in front of the squadron, and ascending into the same, spake after this manner.

My lords, the magistrats and the people of the tribe of Nubia.

“WE have this day solemniz’d the happy nuptials of the two greatest princes that are upon the earth or in nature, arms and councils: in the mutual embraces wherof consists your whole commonwealth; whose councils upon their perpetual wheelings, marches, and countermarches, create her armys; and whose armys with the golden vollys of the ballot at once create and salute her councils. There be those (such is the world at present) that think it ridiculous to see a nation exercising its civil functions in military disciplin; while they, committing their buff to their servants, com themselves to hold trenchards. For what avails it such as are unarm’d, or (which is all one) whose education acquaints them not with the proper use of their swords, to be call’d citizens? What were two or three thousand of you, tho never so well affected to your country, but naked, to one troop of mercenary soldiers? If they should com upon the field and say, Gentlemen, It is thought fit that such and such men should be chosen by you; where were your liberty; Or, Gentlemen, parlaments are exceeding good, but you are to have a little patience, these times are not so fit for them; where were your commonwealth? What causes the monarchy of the Turcs but servants in arms? What was it that begot the glorious commonwealth of Rome, but the sword in the hands of her citizens? Wherfore my glad eys salute the serenity and brightness of this day with a showr that shall not cloud it. Behold the army of Israel becom a commonwealth, and the commonwealth of Israel remaining an army, with her rulers of tens and of fiftys, her rulers of hundreds and thousands, drawing near (as this day throout our happy fields) to the lot by her tribes, increas’d above threefold, and led up by her phylarchs or princes, to sit upon fifty thrones, judging the fifty tribes of Oceana! Or, Is it Athens, breaking from her iron sepulcher, where she has bin so long trampled by hosts of janizarys? For certainly that is the voice of Theseus, having gather’d his scatter’d Athenians into one city. This freeborn nation lives not upon the dole or bounty of one man, but distributing her annual magistracys and honours with her own hand, is herself king PEOPLE—at which the orator was a while interrupted with shouts, but at length proceded)—Is it grave Lacedemon in her arm’d tribe divided by her obæ and her mora, which appears to chide me that I teach the people to talk, or conceive such language as is drest like a woman, to be a fit usher of the joys of liberty into the hearts of men? Is it Rome in her victorious arms (for so she held her concio or congregation) that congratulats with us, for finding out that which she could not hit on, and binding up her comitia curiata, centuriata, and tributa, in one inviolable league of union? Or is it the great council of incomparable Venice, bowling forth by the self-same ballot her immortal commonwealth? For, neither by reason nor by experience is it impossible that a commonwealth should be immortal; seeing the people being the materials, never dy; and the form, which is motion, must, without opposition, be endless. The bowl which is thrown from your hand, if there be no rub, no impediment, shall never cease: for which cause the glorious luminarys that are the bowls of God, were once thrown for ever; and next these, those of Venice. But certainly, my lords, whatever these great examples may have shewn us, we are the first that have shewn to the world a commonwealth establish’d in her rise upon fifty such towers, and so garnizon’d as are the tribes of Oceana, containing a hundred thousand elders upon the annual list, and yet but an outguard; besides her marching armys to be equal in the disciplin, and in the number of her youth.

“This freeborn nation lives not upon the dole or bounty of one man, but distributing her annual magistracys and honours with her own hand, is herself king PEOPLE”

“And forasmuch as soverain power is a necessary but a formidable creature, not unlike the pouder which (as you are soldiers) is at once your safety and your danger, being subject to take fire against you as well as for you; how well and securely is she by your galaxys so collected as to be in full force and vigor, and yet so distributed that it is impossible you should be blown up by your own magazine? Let them who will have it, that power if it be confin’d cannot be soverain, tell us, whether our rivers do not enjoy a more secure and fruitful reign within their proper banks, than if it were lawful for them, in ravaging our harvests, to spill themselves? whether souls, not confin’d to their peculiar bodys, do govern them any more than those of witches in their trances? whether power, not confin’d to the bounds of reason and virtue, has any other bounds than those of vice and passion? or if vice and passion be boundless, and reason and virtue have certain limits, on which of these thrones holy men should anoint their soverain? but to blow away this dust, the soverain power of a commonwealth is no more bounded, that is to say straitned, than that of a monarch; but is balanc’d. The eagle mounts not to her proper pitch, if she be bounded; nor is free, if she be not balanc’d. And lest a monarch should think he can reach further with his scepter, the Roman eagle upon such a balance spread her wings from the ocean to Euphrates. Receive the soverain power; you have received it, hold it fast, imbrace it for ever in your shining arms. The virtue of the loadstone is not impair’d or limited, but receives strength and nourishment by being bound in iron. And so giving your lordships much joy, I take my leave of this tribe.”

“And forasmuch as soverain power is a necessary but a formidable creature, not unlike the pouder which (as you are soldiers) is at once your safety and your danger, being subject to take fire against you as well as for you; how well and securely is she by your galaxys so collected as to be in full force and vigor, and yet so distributed that it is impossible you should be blown up by your own magazine?”

The orator descending, had the period of his speech made with a vast applause and exultation of the whole tribe, attending him for that night to his quarter, as the phylarch with some commanded troops did the next day to the frontiers of the tribe, where leave was taken on both sides with more tears than grief.

[Definition of the tribe.] So, a tribe is the third division of land occasion’d by the third collection of the people, whose functions proper to that place are contain’d in the five foregoing orders.

The institution of the commonwealth was such as needed those props and scaffolds which may have troubled the reader; but I shall here take them away, and com to the constitution which stands by it self, and yields a clearer prospect.

[Constitution of the commonwealth.] The motions, by what has bin already shown, are spherical; and spherical motions have their proper center: for which cause (e’er I procede further) it will be necessary, for the better understanding of the whole, that I discover the center wherupon the motions of this commonwealth are form’d.

The center, or basis of every government, is no other than the fundamental laws of the same.

Fundamental laws are such as state what it is that a man may call his own, that is to say, property; and what the means be wherby a man may enjoy his own, that is to say, protection. The first is also call’d dominion, and the second empire or soverain power, wherof this (as has been shewn) is the natural product of the former: for such as is the balance of dominion in a nation, such is the nature of its empire.

“The center, or basis of every government, is no other than the fundamental laws of the same. Fundamental laws are such as state what it is that a man may call his own, that is to say, property; and what the means be wherby a man may enjoy his own, that is to say, protection.”

Wherfore the fundamental laws of Oceana, or the center of this commonwealth, are the agrarian and the ballot: the agrarian by the balance of dominion preserving equality in the root; and the ballot by an equal rotation conveying it into the branch, or exercise of soverain power: as, to begin with the former, appears by

The thirteenth ORDER, constituting the agrarian laws of Oceana, Marpesia, and Panopea, wherby it is ordain’d, first, for all such lands as are lying and being within the proper territorys of Oceana, that every man who is at present possest, or shall hereafter be possest of an estate in land exceeding the revenue of two thousand pounds a year, and having more than one son, shall leave his lands either equally divided among them, in case the lands amount to above 2000 l. a year to each; or so near equally in case they com under, that the greater part or portion of the same remaining to the eldest, excede not the value of two thousand pounds revenue. And no man, not in present possession of lands above the value of two thousand pounds by the year, shall receive, enjoy (except by lawful inheritance) acquire, or purchase to himself lands within the said territorys, amounting, with those already in his possession, above the said revenue. And if a man has a daughter, or daughters, except she be an heiress, or they be heiresses, he shall not leave or give to any one of them in marriage, or otherwise, for her portion, above the value of one thousand five hundred pounds in lands, goods, and monys. Nor shall any friend, kinsman, or kinswoman, add to her or their portion or portions that are so provided for, to make any one of them greater. Nor shall any man demand, or have more in marriage with any woman. Nevertheless an heiress shall enjoy her lawful inheritance, and a widow, whatsoever the bounty or affection of her husband shall bequeath to her, to be divided in the first generation, wherein it is divisible according as has bin shewn. ...

“the ballot of Venice, as it is fitted by several alterations, and appointed to every assembly, to be the constant and only way of giving suffrage in this commonwealth”

The next is

[14 Order.] The fourteenth ORDER, constituting the ballot of Venice, as it is fitted by several alterations, and appointed to every assembly, to be the constant and only way of giving suffrage in this commonwealth, according to the following scheme.

I shall indeavour by the preceding figure to demonstrat the manner of the VENETIAN BALLOT (a thing as difficult in discourse or writing, as facil in practice) according to the use of it in Oceana. The whole figure represents the senat, containing, as to the house or form of sitting, a square and a half; the tribunal at the upper end being ascended by four steps. On the uppermost of these sit the magistrats that constitute the signory of the commonwealth, that is to say, A the strategus; B the orator; C the three commissioners of the great seal; D the three commissioners of the treasury, whereof one, E, exercises for the present the office of a censor at the middle urn F.

To the two upper steps of the tribunal answer GG. GG. the two long benches next the wall on each side of the house; the outwardmost of which are equal in height to the uppermost step, and the innermost equal in height to the next. Of these four benches consists the first seat; as the second seat consists in like manner of those four benches HH. HH. which being next the floor, are equal in height to the two nethermost steps of the throne. So the whole house is distributed into two seats, each consisting of four benches.

This distribution causes not only the greater conveniency, as will be shewn, to the senators in the exercise of their function at the ballot, but a greater grace to the aspect of the senat. In the middle of the outward benches stand I. I. the chairs of the censors, those being their ordinary places, tho upon occasion of the ballot they descend, and sit where they are shewn by K. K. at each of the outward urns L. L. Those M. M. that sit with their tables, and the bowls N. N. before them, upon the half space or second step of the tribunal from the floor, are the clercs or secretarys of the house. Upon the short seats O. O. on the floor (which should have bin represented by woolsacks) sit P the two tribuns of the horse; Q the two tribuns of the foot; and RR. RR. the judges: all which magistrats are assistants, but have no suffrage. This posture of the senat consider’d, the ballot is perform’d as follows.

First, whereas the gold balls are of several sutes, and accordingly mark’d with several letters of the alphabet, a secretary presents a litle urn (wherin there is one ball of every sute or mark) to the strategus and the orator; and look what letter the strategus draws, the same and no other is to be us’d for that time in the middle urn F; the like for the letter drawn by the orator is to be observ’d for the side urns L. L. that is to say, if the strategus drew a ball with an A, all the gold balls in the middle urn for that day are mark’d with the letter A; and if the orator drew a B, all the gold balls in the side urn for that day are mark’d with the letter B: which don immediatly before the ballot, and so the letter unknown to the ballotants, they can use no fraud or jugling; otherwise a man might carry a gold ball in his hand, and seem to have drawn it out of an urn. He that draws a gold ball at any urn, delivers it to the censor or assessor of that urn, who views the character, and allows accordingly of his lot.

The strategus and the orator having drawn for the letters, the urns are prepar’d accordingly by one of the commissioners and the two censors. The preparation of the urns is after this manner. If the senat be to elect, for example, the list call’d the tropic of magistrats, which is this;

1. The lord STRATEGUS;

2. The lord ORATOR;

3. The third COMMISSIONER of the great seal;

4. The third COMMISSIONER of the treasury;

5. The first CENSOR;

6. The second CENSOR;

This list or schedule consists of six magistracys, and to every magistracy there are to be four competitors, that is, in all four and twenty competitors propos’d to the house. They that are to propose the competitors are call’d electors, and no elector can propose above one competitor: wherfore for the proposing of four and twenty competitors you must have four and twenty electors; and wheras the ballot consists of a lot and of a suffrage, the lot is for no other use than for the designation of electors; and he that draws a gold ball at the middle urn is an elector. Now, as to have four and twenty competitors propos’d, you must have four and twenty electors made; so to have four and twenty electors made by lot, you must have four and twenty gold balls in the middle urn; and these (because otherwise it would be no lot) mix’d with a competent number of blanks, or silver balls. Wherfore to the four and twenty gold balls cast six and twenty silver ones, and those (reckoning the blanks with the prizes) make fifty balls in the middle urn. This don (because no man can com to the middle urn that has not first drawn a gold ball at one of the side urns) and to be sure that the prizes or gold balls in this urn be all drawn, there must com to it fifty persons: therfore there must be in each of the side urns five and twenty gold balls, which in both com to fifty; and to the end that every senator may have his lot, the gold balls in the side urns are to be made up with blanks equal to the number of the ballotants at either urn: for example, the house consisting of 300 senators, there must be in each of the side urns 125 blanks and 25 prizes, which com in both the side urns to 300 balls. This is the whole mystery of preparing the urns, which the censors having skill to do accordingly, the rest of the ballot, whether the partys balloting understand it or no, must of necessary consequence com right; and they can neither be out, nor fall into any confusion in the exercise of this art.

But the ballot, as I said, is of two parts, lot and suffrage, or the proposition and result. The lot determins who shall propose the competitors; and the result of the senat, which of the competitors shall be the magistrats. The whole, to begin with the lot, procedes in this manner. ...

... The nineteenth ORDER, distributing to every council such businesses as are properly to belong to their cognizance, whereof som they shall receive and determin; and others they shall receive, prepare, and introduce into the house: as, first,

[For the council of state.] THE council of state is to receive all addresses, intelligences, and letters of negotiation; to give audience to ambassadors sent to, and to draw up instructions for such as shall be sent by, this commonwealth; to receive propositions from, and hold intelligence with the provincial councils; to consider upon all laws to be enacted, amended, or repeal’d; and upon all levys of men or money, war or peace, leagues or associations to be made by this commonwealth, so far forth as is conducible to the orderly preparation of the same to be introduc’d by them into the senat. Provided that all such affairs, as otherwise appertaining to the council of state, are, for the good of the commonwealth, to be carry’d with greater secrecy, be manag’d by the council of war, with power to receive and send forth agents, spys, emissarys, intelligencers, frigots; and to manage affairs of that nature, if it be necessary, without communication to the senat, till such time as it may be had without detriment to the business. For the council of war. But they shall have no power to engage the commonwealth in a war without the consent of the senat and the people. It appertains also to this council to take charge of the fleet as admiral; and of all storehouses, armorys, arsenals, and magazins appertaining to this commonwealth. They shall keep a diligent record of the military expeditions from time to time reported by him that was strategus or general, or one of the polemarchs in that action; or at least so far as the experience of such commanders may tend to the improvement of the military disciplin, which they shall digest and introduce into the senat: and if the senat shall therupon frame any article, they shall see that it be observ’d in the musters or education of the youth. And wheras the council of war is the sentinel or scout of this commonwealth, if any person or persons shall go about to introduce debate into any popular assembly of the same, or otherwise to alter the present government, or strike at the root of it, they shall apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, seiz’d, imprison’d; and examin, arraign, acquit, or condemn, and cause to be executed any such person or persons, by their proper power and authority, and without appeal.

[For the council of religion.] THE council of religion, as the arbiter of this commonwealth in cases of conscience more peculiarly appertaining to religion, christian charity, and a pious life, shall have the care of the national religion, and the protection of the liberty of conscience, with the cognizance of all causes relating to either of them. And first as to the national religion; they shall cause all places or preferments of the best revenue in either of the universitys to be confer’d upon no other than such of the most learn’d and pious men, as have dedicated themselves to the study of theology. They shall also take a special care that by such augmentations as be or shall hereafter be appointed by the senat, every benefice in this nation be improv’d at least to the value of one hundred pounds a year. And to the end that there be no interest at all, wherby the divines or teachers of the national religion may be corrupted, or corrupt religion, they shall be capable of no other kind of imployment or preferment in this commonwealth. And wheras a directory for the administration of the national religion is to be prepar’d by this council, they shall in this and other debates of this nature procede in manner following: a question arising in matter of religion shall be put and stated by the council in writing; which writing the censors shall send by their beadles (being proctors chosen to attend them) each to the university wherof he is chancellor; and the vice-chancellor of the same receiving the writing, shall call a convocation of all the divines of that university, being above forty years of age. And the universitys upon a point so propos’d, shall have no manner of intelligence or correspondence one with another, till their debates be ended, and they have made return of their answers to the council of religion by two or three of their own members, that they may clear their sense, if any doubt should arise, to the council; which don, they shall return, and the council having receiv’d such information, shall procede according to their own judgments, in the preparation of the whole matter for the senat: that so the interest of the learned being remov’d, there may be a right application of reason to scripture, which is the foundation of the national religion.

SECONDLY, This council, as to the protection of the liberty of conscience, shall suffer no coercive power in the matter of religion to be exercis’d in this nation: the teachers of the natural religion being no other than such as voluntarily undertake that calling; and their auditors or hearers, no other than are also voluntary. Nor shall any gather’d congregation be molested or interrupted in their way of worship (being neither Jewish or idolatrous) but vigilantly and vigorously protected and defended in the injoyment, practice, and prosession of the same. And if there be officers or auditors appointed by any such congregation for the introduction of causes into the council of religion, all such causes so introduc’d shall be receiv’d, heard, and determin’d by the same, with recourse had, if need be, to the senat. ...

“This council, as to the protection of the liberty of conscience, shall suffer no coercive power in the matter of religion to be exercis’d in this nation: the teachers of the natural religion being no other than such as voluntarily undertake that calling; and their auditors or hearers, no other than are also voluntary.”

“Nobility may be defin’d divers ways; for it is either antient riches, or antient virtue, or a title confer’d by a prince or a commonwealth.

“Nobility of the first kind may be subdivided into two others, such as hold an overbalance in dominion or property to the whole people, or such as hold not an overbalance. In the former case, a nobility (such was the Gothic, of which sufficient has bin spoken) is incompatible with popular government; for to popular government it is essential that power should be in the people, but the overbalance of a nobility in dominion draws the power to themselves. Wherfore in this sense it is that Machiavel is to be understood, where he says, that these are pernicious in a commonwealth; and of France, Spain, and Italy, that they are nations which for this cause are the corruption of the world: for otherwise nobility may according to his definition (which is, that they are such as live upon their own revenues in plenty, without ingagement either to the tilling of their lands, or other work for their livelihood) hold an underbalance to the people; in which case they are not only safe, but necessary to the natural mixture of a well-order’d commonwealth. For how else can you have a commonwealth that is not altogether mechanic? or what comparison is there of such commonwelaths as are, or com nearest to mechanic, for example, Athens, Switzerland, Holland, to Lacedemon, Rome, and Venice, plum’d with their aristocracys? your mechanics, till they have first feather’d their nests, like the fowls of the air, whose whole imployment is to seek their food, are so busy’d in their private concernments, that they have neither leisure to study the public, nor are safely to be trusted with it, because a man is not faithfully imbark’d in this kind of ship, if he has no share in the freight. But if his share be such as gives him leisure by his privat advantage to reflect upon that of the public, what other name is there for this sort of men, being à leur aise, but (as Machiavel you see calls them) Nobility? especially when their familys com to be such as are noted for their services don to the commonwealth, and so take into their antient riches antient virtue, which is the second definition of nobility, but such a one as is scarce possible in nature without the former. For as the baggage, says Verulamius, is to an army, so are riches to virtue; they cannot be spar’d nor left behind, tho they be impediments, such as not only hinder the march, but sometimes thro the care of them lose or disturb the victory. Of this latter sort is the nobility of Oceana; the best of all others, because they, having no stamp whence to derive their price, can have it no otherwise than by their intrinsic value. The third definition of nobility, is a title, honor, or distinction from the people, confer’d or allow’d by the prince or the commonwealth. And this may be two ways, either without any stamp or privilege, as in Oceana; or with such privileges as are inconsiderable, as in Athens after the battel of Plateæ, whence the nobility had no right, as such, but to religious offices, or inspection of the public games, to which they were also to be elected by the people: or with privileges, and those considerable ones, as the nobility in Athens before the battel of Plateæ, and the Patricians in Rome, each of which had right, or claim’d it, to the senat and all the magistracys; wherin for som time they only by their stamp were current. ...

“Of this latter sort is the nobility of Oceana; the best of all others, because they, having no stamp whence to derive their price, can have it no otherwise than by their intrinsic value.”

The Archon’s comment upon the order I find to have bin of this sense:

My lords,

“TO crave pardon for a word or two in farther explanation of what was read, I shall briefly shew how the constitution of this tribe or assembly answers to their function; and how their function, which is of two parts, the former in the result or legislative power, the latter in the supreme judicature of the commonwealth, answers to their constitution. Machiavel has a discourse, where he puts the question, Whether the guard of liberty may with more security be committed to the nobility, or to the people? Which doubt of his arises thro the want of explaining his terms; for the guard of liberty can signify nothing else but the result of the commonwealth: so that to say, that the guard of liberty may be committed to the nobility, is to say, that the result may be committed to the senat, in which case the people signify nothing. Now to shew it was a mistake to affirm it to have bin thus in Lacedemon, sufficient has bin spoken; and wheras he will have it to be so in Venice also, They, says Contarini, in whom resides the supreme power of the whole commonwealth, and of the laws, and upon whose orders depends the authority as well of the senat as of all the other magistrats, is the GREAT COUNCIL. It is institutively in the great council, by the judgment of all that know that commonwealth; tho for the reasons shewn, it be somtimes exercis’d by the senat. Nor need I run over the commonwealths in this place for the proof of a thing so doubtless, and such as has bin already made so apparent, as that the result of each was in the popular part of it. The popular part of yours, or the prerogative tribe, consists of seven deputys (wherof three are of the horse) annually elected out of every tribe of Oceana; which being fifty, amounts to one hundred and fifty horse, and two hundred foot. And the prerogative consisting of three of these lists, consists of four hundred and fifty horse, and six hundred foot, besides those of the provinces to be hereafter mention’d; by which means the overbalance in the suffrage remaining to the foot by one hundred and fifty votes, you have to the support of a true and natural aristocracy, the deepest root of a democracy that has bin ever planted. Wherfore there is nothing in art or nature better qualify’d for the result than this assembly. It is noted out of Cicero by Machiavel, That the people, tho they are not so prone to find out truth of themselves, as to follow custom, or run into error; yet if they be shewn truth, they not only acknowledge and imbrace it very suddenly, but are the most constant and faithful guardians and conservators of it. It is your duty and office, wherto you are also qualify’d by the orders of this commonwealth, to have the people as you have your hauks and greyhounds, in leases and slips, to range the fields, and beat the bushes for them; for they are of a nature that is never good at this sport, but when you spring or start their proper quarry. Think not that they will stand to ask you what it is, or less know it than your hauks and greyhounds do theirs; but presently make such a flight or course, that a huntsman may as well undertake to run with his dogs, or a falconer to fly with his hauk, as an aristocracy at this game to compare with the people. The people of Rome were possest of no less a prey than the empire of the world, when the nobility turn’d tails, and perch’d among daws upon the tower of monarchy. For tho they did not all of them intend the thing, they would none of them indure the remedy, which was the agrarian. ...

“Machiavel has a discourse, where he puts the question, Whether the guard of liberty may with more security be committed to the nobility, or to the people? Which doubt of his arises thro the want of explaining his terms; for the guard of liberty can signify nothing else but the result of the commonwealth”

The Archon, being the greatest captain of his own, if not of any age, added much to the glory of this commonwealth, by interweaving the militia with more art and luster than any legislator from or before the time of Servius Tullius, who constituted the Roman militia. But as the bones or skeleton of a man, tho the greatest part of his beauty be contain’d in their proportion or symmetry, yet shewn without flesh, are a spectacle that is rather horrid than entertaining; so without discourses are the orders of a commonwealth; which, if she gos forth in that manner, may complain of her friends that they stand mute, and staring upon her. Wherfore this order was thus flesh’d by the lord Archon.

My lords;

“DIOGENES seeing a young fellow drunk, told him that his father was drunk when he begot him. For this, in natural generation I must confess I see no reason; but in the political it is right. The vices of the people are from their governors; those of their governors from their laws or orders; and those of their laws or orders from their legislators. Whatever was in the womb imperfect, as to her proper work, coms very rarely, or never at all to perfection afterwards: and the formation of a citizen in the womb of the commonwealth is his education.

“The vices of the people are from their governors; those of their governors from their laws or orders; and those of their laws or orders from their legislators.”

“Education by the first of the foregoing orders is of six kinds: at the school, in the mechanics, at the universitys, at the ins of court or chancery, in travels, and in military disciplin: som of which I shall but touch, and som I shall handle more at large.

[Schools.] “That which is propos’d for the erecting and indowing of schools throout the tribes, capable of all the children of the same, and able to give to the poor the education of theirs gratis, is only matter of direction in case of very great charity, as easing the needy of the charge of their children from the ninth to the fifteenth year of their age, during which time their work cannot be profitable; and restoring them when they may be of use, furnished with tools wherof there are advantages to be made in every work, seeing he that can read and use his pen has som convenience by it in the meanest vocation. And it cannot be conceiv’d, but that which coms, tho in small parcels, to the advantage of every man in his vocation, must amount to the advantage of every vocation, and so to that of the whole commonwealth. Wherfore this is commended to the charity of every wisehearted and welminded man, to be don in time, and as God shall stir him up or inable him; there being such provision already in the case, as may give us leave to procede without obstruction.

[Mechanics in general.] “Parents, under animadversion of the censors, are to dispose of their children at the fifteenth year of their age to somthing; but what, is left, according to their abilitys or inclination, at their own choice. This, with the multitude, must be to the mechanics, that is to say, to agriculture or husbandry; to manufactures, or to merchandize.

[Husbandry.] “Agriculture is the bread of the nation; we are hung upon it by the teeth; it is a mighty nursery of strength, the best army, and the most assur’d knapsac; it is manag’d with the least turbulent or ambitious, and the most innocent hands of all other arts. Wherfore I am of Aristotle’s opinion, that a commonwealth of husbandmen, and such is ours, must be the best of all others. Certainly, my lords, you have no measure of what ought to be, but what can be don for the incouragement of this profession. I could wish I were husband good enough to direct somthing to this end; but racking of rents is a vile thing in the richer sort, an uncharitable one to the poorer, a perfect mark of slavery, and nips your commonwealth in the fairest blossom. On the other side, if there should be too much ease given in this kind, it would occasion sloth, and so destroy industry, the principal nerve of a commonwealth. But if ought might be don to hold the balance even between these two, it would be a work in this nation equal to that for which Fabius was sirnam’d Maximus by the Romans.

“Agriculture is the bread of the nation; we are hung upon it by the teeth; it is a mighty nursery of strength, the best army, and the most assur’d knapsac; it is manag’d with the least turbulent or ambitious, and the most innocent hands of all other arts. Wherfore I am of Aristotle’s opinion, that a commonwealth of husbandmen, and such is ours, must be the best of all others.”

[Manufactures and merchandize.] “In manufactures and merchandize the Hollander has gotten the start of us; but at the long run it will be found, that a people working upon a foren commodity dos but farm the manufacture, and that it is really intail’d upon them only, where the growth of it is native: as also that it is one thing to have the carriage of other mens goods, and another for a man to bring his own to the best market. Wherfore (nature having provided incouragement for these arts in this nation above all others, where, the people growing, they of necessity must also increase) it cannot but establish them upon a far more sure and effectual foundation than that of the Hollanders. But these educations are in order to the first things, or necessitys of nature; as husbandry to the food, manufacture to the clothing, and merchandize to the purse of the commonwealth.

“There be other things in nature, which being second as to their order, for their dignity and value are first, and such to which the other are but accommodations; or this sort are especially these, religion, justice, courage, and wisdom. ...

“Now if you add to the propagation of civil liberty (so natural to this commonwealth that it cannot be omitted) the propagation of the liberty of conscience, this empire, this patronage of the world is the kingdom of Christ”

“Now if you add to the propagation of civil liberty (so natural to this commonwealth that it cannot be omitted) the propagation of the liberty of conscience, this empire, this patronage of the world is the kingdom of Christ: for as the kingdom of God the father was a commonwealth, so shall the kingdom of God the son; the people shall be willing in the day of his power.

“Having shew’d you in this and other places, som of those inestimable benefits of this kind of government, together with the natural and facil emanation of them from their fountain, I com (lest God who has appear’d to you, for he is the God of nature, in the glorious constellation of these subordinat causes, wherof we have hitherto bin taking the true elevation, should shake off the dust of his feet against you) to warn you of the dangers which you, not taking the opportunity, will incur by omission.

“MACHIAVEL speaking of the defect of Venice, thro her want of proper arms, crys out, This cut her wings, and spoil’d her mount to heaven. If you lay your commonwealth upon any other foundation than the people, you frustrat your self of proper arms, and so lose the empire of the world; nor is this all, but som other nation will have it.

“COLUMBUS offer’d gold to one of your kings, thro whose happy incredulity another prince has drunk the poison, even to the consumtion of his people; but I do not offer you a nerve of war that is made of pursestrings, such a one as has drawn the face of the earth into convulsions, but such as is natural to her health and beauty. Look you to it, where there is tumbling and tossing upon the bed of sickness, it must end in death or recovery. Tho the people of the world, in the dregs of the Gothic empire, be yet tumbling and tossing upon the bed of sickness, they cannot dy; nor is there any means of recovery for them but by antient prudence, whence of necessity it must com to pass, that this drug be better known. If France, Italy, and Spain, were not all sick, all corrupted together, there would be none of them so; for the sick would not be able to withstand the sound, nor the sound to preserve their health without curing of the sick. The first of these nations (which, if you stay her leisure, will in my mind be France) that recovers the health of antient prudence, shall certainly govern the world; for what did Italy when she had it? and as you were in that, so shall you in the like case be reduced to a province; I do not speak at random. Italy, in the consulship of Lucius Æmilius Papus, and Caius Atilius Regulus, arm’d upon the Gallic tumult that then happen’d of her self, and without the aid of foren auxiliarys, seventy thousand horse, and seven hundred thousand foot: but as Italy is the least of those three countrys in extent, so is France now the most populous.

I, decus, I, nostrum, melioribus utere fatis.

“MY dear lords, Oceana is as the rose of Sharon, and the lilly of the vally. As the lilly among thorns, such is my love among the daughters. She is comly as the tents of Kedar, and terrible as an army with banners. Her neck is as the tower of David, builded for an armory, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers and shields of mighty men. Let me hear thy voice in the morning, whom my soul loves. The south has drop’d, and the west is breathing upon thy garden of spices. Arise, queen of the earth, arise, holy spouse of Jesus; for lo the winter is past, the rain is over and gon; the flowers appear on the earth, the time for the singing of birds is com, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. Arise, I say, com forth, and do not tarry: ah! wherfore should my eys behold thee by the rivers of Babylon, hanging thy harps upon the willows, thou fairest among women?

“Excellent PATRIOTS; if the people be soverain, here is that which establishes their prerogative: if we be sincere, here is that which disburdens our souls, and makes good all our ingagements: if we be charitable, here is that which imbraces all partys: if we would be settl’d, here is that which will stand, and last for ever.

“If our religion be any thing else but a vain boast, scratching and defacing human nature or reason, which, being the image of God, makes it a kind of murder; here is that empire whence justice shall run down like a river, and judgment like a mighty stream. Who is it then that calls us? or what is in our way? a lion! is it not the dragon that old serpent? for what wretched shifts are these? here is a great deal, might we not have som of this at one time, and som at another? ...

LIBERTAS.

The Proclamation of his Highness the Lord Archon of Oceana upon Promulgation of the Model.

WHeras his highness and the council, in the framing of the model promulgated, have not had any private interest, or ambition, but the fear of God, and the good of this people before their eys; and it remains their desire that this great work may be carry’d on accordingly: This present greeting is to inform the good people of this land, that as the council of prytans sat during the framing of the model, to receive from time to time such propositions as should be offer’d by any wisehearted or public spirited man, towards the institution of a well-order’d commonwealth, so the said council is to sit as formerly in the great hall of the pantheon during promulgation (which is to continue for the space of three months) to receive, weigh, and, as there shall be occasion, transmit to the council of legislators, all such objections as shall be made against the said model, whether in the whole, or in any part. Wherfore that nothing be don rashly, or without the consent of the people, such, of what party soever, with whom there may remain any doubts or difficultys, are desir’d with all convenient speed to address themselves to the said prytans; where, if such objections, doubts, or difficultys, receive solution to the satisfaction of the auditory, they shall have public thanks: but if the said objections, doubts, or difficultys, receive no solution to the satisfaction of the auditory then the model promulgated shall be reviewed, and the party that was the occasion of the review, shall receive public thanks, together with the best horse in his highness’s stable, and be one of the council of legislators. And so God have you in his keeping.

I should now write the same council of the prytans, but for two reasons; the one, that having had but a small time for that which is already don, I am overlabour’d; the other, that there may be new objections. Wherfore, if my reader has any such as to the model, I intreat him to address himself by way of oration, as it were, to the prytans, that when this rough draught coms to be a work, his speech being faithfully inserted in this place, may give or receive correction to amendment: for what is written will be weigh’d. But conversation, in these days, is a game, at which they are best provided that have light gold: it is like the sport of women that make flowers of straws, which must be stuck up, but may not be touch’d. Nor, which is worse, is this the fault of conversation only: but to the examiner, I say, If to invent method, and teach an art, be all one, let him shew that this method is not truly invented, or this art is faithfully taught.

“under the administration of which officers and magistrats the commonwealth was ratify’d and establish’d by the whole body of the people, in their parochial, hundred, and county assemblys.”

I cannot conclude a circle (and such is this commonwealth) without turning the end into the beginning. The time of promulgation being expir’d, the surveyors were sent down, who having in due season made report that their work was perfect, the orators follow’d; under the administration of which officers and magistrats the commonwealth was ratify’d and establish’d by the whole body of the people, in their parochial, hundred, and county assemblys. And the orators being, by virtue of their scrols or lots, members of their respective tribes, were elected each the first knight of the third list, or galaxy; wherfore having at their return assisted the Archon in putting the senat and the people or prerogative into motion, they abdicated the magistracy both of orators and legislators. ...

“Liberty! What is even that, if we may not be grateful? And if we may, we have none: for who has any thing that he dos not ow? My lords, there be som hard conditions of virtue: if this debt were exacted, it were not due; wheras being cancell’d, we are all enter’d into bonds. On the other side, if we make such a payment as will not stand with a free people, we do not inrich my lord Archon, but rob him of his whole estate, and his immense glory.

“These particulars had in due deliberation and mature debate, according to the order of this commonwealth, It is propos’d by authority of the senat, to you my lords the people of Oceana:

“I. That the dignity and office of Archon, or protector of the commonwealth of Oceana, be, and is hereby conferr’d by the senat and the people of Oceana, upon the most illustrious prince, and sole legislator of this commonwealth, Olphaus Megaletor pater patriæ, whom God preserve, for the term of his natural life.

“II. That three hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum yet remaining of the antient revenue, be estated upon the said illustrious prince, or lord Archon, for the said term, and to the proper and peculiar use of his highness.

“III. That the lord Archon have the reception of all foren embassadors, by and with the council of state, according to the orders of this commonwealth.

“IV. That the lord Archon have a standing army of twelve thousand men, defray’d upon a monthly tax, during the term of three years, for the protection of this commonwealth against dissenting partys; to be governed, directed, and commanded by and with the advice of the council of war, according to the orders of this commonwealth.

“V. That this commonwealth make no distinction of persons or partys, but every man being elected and sworn, according to the orders of the same, be equally capable of magistracy; or not elected, be equally capable of liberty, and the injoyment of his estate free from all other than common taxes.

“That this commonwealth make no distinction of persons or partys, but every man being elected and sworn, according to the orders of the same, be equally capable of magistracy; or not elected, be equally capable of liberty, and the injoyment of his estate free from all other than common taxes.”

“VI. That a man putting a distinction upon himself, refusing the oath upon election, or declaring himself of a party not conformable to the civil government, may within any time of the three years standing of the army, transport himself and his estate, without molestation or impediment, into any other nation.

“VII. That in case there remains any distinction of partys not conforming to the civil government of this commonwealth, after the three years of the standing army being expir’d, and the commonwealth be therby forc’d to prolong the term of the said army, the pay from thenceforth of the said army be levy’d upon the estates of such partys so remaining unconformable to the civil government.”

The proposer having ended his oration, the trumpets sounded; and the tribuns of the horse being mounted to view the ballot, caus’d the tribe (which thronging up to the speech, came almost round the gallery) to retreat about twenty paces, when Linceus de Stella receiving the propositions, repair’d with Bronchus de Rauco the herald, to a little scaffold erected in the middle of the tribe, where he seated himself, the herald standing bare upon his right hand. The ballotins having their boxes ready, stood before the gallery, and at the command of the tribuns march’d, one to every troop on horseback, and one to every company on foot; each of them being follow’d by other children that bore red boxes: now this is putting the question whether the question should be put. And the suffrage being very suddenly return’d to the tribuns at the table, and number’d in the view of the proposers, the votes were all in the affirmative...

... My lord Archon’s arrival being known, the signory, accompany’d by the tribuns, repair’d to him, with the news he had already heard by the herald; to which my lord strategus added, that his highness could not doubt upon the demonstrations given, but the minds of men were firm in the opinion, that he could be no seeker of himself in the way of earthly pomp and glory; and that the gratitude of the senat, and the people, could not therfore be understood to have any such reflection upon him. But so it was, that in regard of dangers abroad, and partys at home, they durst not trust themselves without a standing army, nor a standing army in any man’s hands but those of his highness.

The Archon made answer, that he ever expected this would be the sense of the senat and the people; and this being their sense, he should have bin sorry they had made choice of any other than himself for a standing general: first, because it could not have bin more to their own safety: and, secondly, because so long as they should have need of a standing army, his work was not done: that he would not dispute against the judgment of the senat and the people, nor ought that to be. Nevertheless, he made little doubt but experience would shew every party their own interest in this government, and that better improv’d than they could expect from any other; that mens animositys should overbalance their interest for any time, was impossible; that humour could never be lasting, nor thro the constitution of the government, of any effect at the first charge. For supposing the worst, and that the people had chosen no other into the senat and the prerogative than royalists, a matter of fourteen hundred men must have taken their oaths at their election, with an intention to go quite contrary, not only to their oaths so taken, but to their own interest; for being estated in the soverain power, they must have decreed it from themselves (such an example for which there was never any experience, nor can there be any reason) or holding it, it must have don in their hands as well every whit as in any other. Furthermore, they must have remov’d the government from a foundation that apparently would hold, to set it upon another which apparently would not hold; which things if they could not com to pass, the senat and the people consisting wholly of royalists, much less by a parcel of them elected. But if the fear of the senat and of the people deriv’d from a party without, such a one as would not be elected, nor ingage themselves to the commonwealth by an oath; this again must be so large, as would go quite contrary to their own interest, they being as free and as fully estated in their liberty as any other, or so narrow that they could do no hurt, while the people being in arms, and at the beck of the strategus, every tribe would at any time make a better army than such a party: and there being no partys at home, fears from abroad would vanish. But seeing it was otherwise determin’d by the senat and the people, the best course was to take that which they held the safest, in which with his humble thanks for their great bounty, he was resolv’d to serve them with all duty and obedience.

A very short time after the royalists, now equal citizens, made good the Archon’s judgment, there being no other that found any thing near so great a sweet in the government. For he who has not bin acquainted with affliction, says Seneca, knows but half the things of this world.

Moreover they saw plainly, that to restore the ancient government they must cast up their estates into the hands of three hundred men; wherfore in case the senat and the prerogative, consisting of thirteen hundred men, had bin all royalists, there must of necessity have bin, and be for ever, one thousand against this or any such vote. But the senat being inform’d by the signory, that the Archon had accepted of his dignity and office, caus’d a third chair to be set for his highness, between those of the strategus and the orator in the house, the like at every council; to which he repair’d, not of necessity, but at his pleasure, being the best, and, as Argus not vainly said, the greatest prince in the world: for in the pomp of his court he was not inferior to any, and in the field he was follow’d with a force that was formidable to all. Nor was there a cause in the nature of this constitution to put him to the charge of guards, to spoil his stomach or his sleep: insomuch, as being handsomly disputed by the wits of the academy, whether my lord Archon, if he had bin ambitious, could have made himself so great, it was carry’d clear in the negative; not only for the reasons drawn from the present balance, which was popular; but putting the case the balance had bin monarchical. For there be som nations, wherof this is one, that will bear a prince in a commonwealth far higher than it is possible for them to bear a monarch. Spain look’d upon the prince of Orange as her most formidable enemy; but if ever there be a monarch in Holland, he will be the Spaniards best friend. For wheras a prince in a commonwealth derives his greatness from the root of the people, a monarch derives his from one of those balances which nip them in the root; by which means the low countrys under a monarch were poor and inconsiderable, but in bearing a prince could grow to a miraculous height, and give the glory of his actions by far the upper hand of the greatest king in Christendom. There are kings in Europe, to whom a king of Oceana would be put a petit companion. But the prince of this commonwealth is the terror and judg of them all.

“For wheras a prince in a commonwealth derives his greatness from the root of the people, a monarch derives his from one of those balances which nip them in the root”

That which my lord Archon now minded most, was the agrarian, upon which debate he incessantly thrust the senat and the council of state; to the end it might be planted upon som firm root, as the main point and basis of perpetuity to the commonwealth.

And these are som of the most remarkable passages that happen’d in the first year of this government. About the latter end of the second, the army was disbanded, but the taxes continu’d at thirty thousand pounds a month, for three years and a half. By which means a piece of artillery was planted, and a portion of land to the value of 50 l. a year purchas’d for the maintenance of the games, and of the prize arms for ever, in each hundred.

“And these are som of the most remarkable passages that happen’d in the first year of this government. About the latter end of the second, the army was disbanded”

With the eleventh year of the commonwealth, the term of the excise, allotted for the maintenance of the senat and the people and for the raising of a public revenue expir’d. By which time the exchequer, over and above the annual salarys, amounting to three hundred thousand pounds, accumulating every year out of one million incom seven hundred thousand pounds in banco, brought it with a product of the sum, rising to about eight millions in the whole: wherby at several times they had purchas’d to the senat and the people four hundred thousand pounds per annum solid revenue; which, besides the lands held in Panopea, together with the perquisits of either province, was held sufficient for a public revenue. Nevertheless, taxes being now wholly taken off, the excise of no great burden (and many specious advantages not vainly propos’d in the heightning of the public revenue) was very chearfully establish’d by the senat and the people, for the term of ten years longer; and the same course being taken, the public revenue was found in the one and twentieth of the commonwealth, to be worth one million in good land. Wherupon the excise was so abolish’d for the present, as withal resolv’d to be the best, the most fruitful and easy way of raising taxes, according to future exigences. But the revenue being now such as was able to be a yearly purchaser, gave a jealousy that by this means the balance of the commonwealth, consisting in privat fortunes, might be eaten out; whence this year is famous for that law wherby the senat and the people forbidding any further purchase of lands to the public within the dominions of Oceana and the adjacent provinces, put the agrarian upon the commonwealth herself. These increases are things which men, addicted to monarchy, deride as impossible, wherby they unwarily urge a strong argument against that which they would defend. For having their eys fix’d upon the pomp and expence, by which not only every child of a king being a prince, exhausts his father’s coffers; but favorits and servil spirits, devoted to the flattery of those princes, grow insolent and profuse, returning a fit gratitude to their masters, whom while they hold it honorable to deceive, they suck and keep eternally poor: it follows that they do not see how it should be possible for a commonwealth to clothe her self in purple, and thrive so strangely upon that which would make a prince’s hair grow thro his hood, and not afford him bread. As if it were a miracle that a careless and prodigal man should bring ten thousand pounds a year to nothing, or that an industrious and frugal man brings a little to ten thousand pounds a year. But the fruit of one man’s industry and frugality can never be like that of a commonwealth; first, because the greatness of the increase follows the greatness of the stock or principal: and, secondly, because a frugal father is for the most part succeded by a lavish son; wheras a commonwealth is her own heir. ...

“Nevertheless, taxes being now wholly taken off, the excise of no great burden (and many specious advantages not vainly propos’d in the heightning of the public revenue) was very chearfully establish’d by the senat and the people”

The youth and wits of the academy having put the business so home in the defence of comedys, that the provosts had nothing but the consequences provided against by the foregoing law to object, prevail’d so far, that two of the provosts of the council of state join’d in a proposition, which after much ado came to a law, wherby one hundred thousand pounds was allotted for the building of two theaters on each side of the piazza of the Halo: and two annual magistrats called prelats, chosen out of the knights, were added to the tropic, the one call’d the prelat of the buskin, for inspection of the tragic scene call’d Melpomene; and the other the prelat of the sock, for the comic called Thalia, which magistrats had each five hundred pounds a year allow’d out of the profits of the theaters; the rest, except eight hundred a year to four poets, payable into the exchequer. A poet laureat created in one of these theaters, by the strategus receives a wreath of five hundred pounds in gold, paid out of the said profits. But no man is capable of this creation, that had not two parts in three of the suffrages at the academy, assembl’d after six weeks warning, and upon that occasion.

These things among us are sure enough to be censur’d, but by such only as do not know the nature of a commonwealth: for to tell men that they are free, and yet to curb the genius of a people in a lawful recreation, to which they are naturally inclin’d, is to tell a tale of a tub. I have heard the Protestant ministers in France, by men that were wise, and of their own profession, much blam’d in that they forbad dancing, a recreation to which the genius of that air is so inclining, that they lost many who would not lose that: nor do they less than blame the former determination of rashness, who now gently connive at that which they had so roughly forbidden. These sports in Oceana are so govern’d, that they are pleasing for privat diversion, and profitable to the public: for the theaters soon defray’d their own charge, and now bring in a good revenue. All this is so far from the detriment of virtue, that it is to the improvement of it, seeing women that heretofore made havock of their honors that they might have their pleasures, are now incapable of their pleasures, if they lose their honors. ...

“These things among us are sure enough to be censur’d, but by such only as do not know the nature of a commonwealth: for to tell men that they are free, and yet to curb the genius of a people in a lawful recreation, to which they are naturally inclin’d, is to tell a tale of a tub.”

But I cannot depart out of this country, till I have taken leave of my lord Archon, a prince of immense felicity, who having built as high with his counsils, as he dig’d deep with his sword, had now seen fifty years measur’d with his own inerring orbs.

[Plutarch in the life of Timoleon.] TIMOLEON (such a hater of tyrants that not able to persuade his brother Timophanes to relinquish the tyranny of Corinth, he slew him) was afterwards elected by the people (the Sicilians groaning to them from under the like burden) to be sent to their relief: wherupon Teleclides the man at that time of most authority in the commonwealth of Corinth, stood up, and giving an exhortation to Timoleon, how he should behave himself in this expedition, told him, that if he restor’d the Sicilians to liberty, it would be acknowledg’d that he destroy’d a tyrant; if otherwise, he must expect to hear he had murder’d a king. Timoleon taking his leave, with a very small provision for so great a design, pursu’d it with a courage not inferior to, and a felicity beyond any that had bin known to that day in mortal flesh, having in the space of eight years utterly rooted out of all Sicily those weeds of tyranny, thro the detestation wherof men fled in such abundance from their native country, that whole citys were left desolat; and brought it to such a pass, that others thro the fame of his virtues, and the excellency of the soil, flock’d as fast from all quarters to it, as to the garden of the world: while he, being presented by the people of Syracusa with his town-house, and his country retreat, the sweetest places in either, liv’d with his wife and children a most quiet, happy, and holy life; for he attributed no part of his success to himself, but all to the blessing and providence of the Gods. As he past his time in this manner, admir’d and honour’d by mankind, Laphistius an envious demagog, going to summon him upon som pretence or other to answer for himself before the assembly, the people fell into such a mutiny, as could not be appeas’d but by Timoleon, who understanding the matter, reprov’d them, by repeating the pains and travel which he had gone thro, to no other end than that every man might have the free use of the laws. Wherfore when Dæmenetus another demagog, had brought the same design about again, and blam’d him impertinently to the people for things which he did when he was general. Timoleon answer’d nothing, but raising up his hands, gave the Gods thanks for their return to his frequent prayers, that he might but live to see the Syracusians so free, that they could question whom they pleas’d.

Not long after, being old, thro som natural imperfection, he fell blind; but the Syracusians by their perpetual visits held him, tho he could not see, their greatest object: if there arriv’d strangers, they brought him to see this sight. Whatever came in debate at the assembly, if it were of small consequence, they determin’d it themselves; but if of importance, they always sent for Timoleon; who being brought by his servants in a chair, and set in the middle of the theater, there ever followed a great shout, after which som time was allow’d for the benedictions of the people; and then the matter propos’d, when Timoleon had spoken to it, was put to the suffrage; which given, his servants bore him back in his chair, accompany’d by the people clapping their hands, and making all expressions of joy and applause, till leaving him at his house, they return’d to the dispatch of their business. And this was the life of Timoleon, till he dy’d of age, and drop’d like a mature fruit while the eye of the people were as the showers of autumn.

The life and death of my lord Archon (but that he had his senses to the last, and that his character, as not the restorer, but the founder of a commonwealth, was greater) is so exactly the same, that (seeing by men wholly ignorant of antiquity, I am accus’d of writing romance) I shall repeat nothing: but tell you that this year the whole nation of Oceana, even to the women and children, were in mourning, where so great or sad a funeral pomp had never bin seen or known. Somtime after the performance of the exequys, a Colossus, mounted on a brazen horse of excellent fabric, was erected in the piazza of the pantheon, ingrav’d with this inscription on the eastern side of the pedestal: HIS NAME IS AS PRECIOUS OINTMENT. And on the Western with the following: GRATA PATRIA, Piæ & Perpetuæ Memoriæ, D. D.

OLPHAUS MEGALETOR Lord Archon,and sole Legislator of OCEANA. Pater Patria.

Invincible in the Field.

Inviolable in his Faith.

Unfained in his Zeal.

Immortal in his Fame.

The Greatest of Captains.

The Best of Princes.

The Happiest of Legislators.

The Most Sincere of Christians.

Who setting the Kingdoms of Earth at Liberty,

Took the Kingdom of the Heavens by Violence;

Anno } Ætat. suæ 116. Anno } Hujus Reipub. 50.

Further Information

SOURCE

The edition used for this extract: James Harrington, The Oceana and Other Works of James Harrington, with an Account of His Life by John Toland (London: Becket and Cadell, 1771). Chapter: THE COMMONWEALTH OF OCEANA. TO HIS HIGHNESS The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. <http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/916/75592>.

Copyright: The text is in the public domain.

FURTHER READING

Other works by James Harrington (1611-1677) <http://oll.libertyfund.org/person/3922>.

Debate: Utopias, or the Ideal Society of the Future <http://oll.libertyfund.org/collection/84>.

Topic: The English Revolution <http://oll.libertyfund.org/collection/68>.

“The distinctive principle of Western social philosophy is individualism. It aims at the creation of a sphere in which the individual is free to think, to choose, and to act without being restrained by the interference of the social apparatus of coercion and oppression, the State.”

[Ludwig von Mises, “Liberty and Property” (1958)]

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[1] James Harrington, The Oceana and Other Works of James Harrington, with an Account of His Life by John Toland (London: Becket and Cadell, 1771). Chapter: THE COMMONWEALTH OF OCEANA. TO HIS HIGHNESS The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. <http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/916/75592>.

Table of Contents

Editor’s Introduction

Extracts from “The Commonwealth of Oceana” (1656)

Further Information

Footnotes